Until now i've been using Shiny's idea and glued the sticks onto the back of the wrapped cookies and it's worked beautifully.

Yesterday i tried to bake cookies with the sticks inserted and it was a total flop. The cookie dough around the stick dipped inwards (making the cookie look like a book). The same thing happened a few months back.

What is the secret here? How do i get the cookies to bake flat with the stick inserted?

I put the stick in the cookie while they are hot from the oven ! I really like it this way...!

As much as I dislike doing cookies on a stick, I put the sticks in hot out of the oven. Never had one fall off yet.

Just make sure you make your cookies thick enough.

Oh, and I use skewers.

I place the stick on the cookie sheet, then lay the cut-out on top. Gently press the dough around the stick. Sure, you can kinda tell where the stick is when the cookie comes out of the oven. But once it's decorated, you can't tell.

I roll my dough for cookies that will go on sticks a little bit thicker (maybe 1 1/2 times the thickness of my regular cookies) so that there is enough room to stick the sticks into the dough. I also lightly place my hand on the top of the cookie as I insert the stick, to help it go straight and keep the cookie more flat.

I always put mine in the cookie before baking. I think Indideby gave me this tip , sorry if it was someone else... I get wet the tip of the stick a little bit before inserting it on the chilled cookie. If I do it when the dough is soft, it makes a bigger hole. After trying this I haven't had a cookie come off the stick!
Sheila

Yes, you do get a bit of a valley where the stick goes, but once you flood with icing you can't see it.

I do what most of you suggest (though i have not tried inserting while hot out of the oven) and never had a problem with them falling out either; thank you all for your helpful suggestions;
TubbsCookies got what i was talking about. Yes, it's a valley that forms on both sides of the stick while it is baking.
Can they really disappear under the flooding? Last time i decorated them, i spread a layer of icing....didn't flood....and the icing settled into the valleys.
Thanks so much for your replies.

I bake my cookies then insert the stick while hot. When cooled they stay.